Seam for base-balls.



PATBNTED JULY 7, 1903.

B. T. ROGERS. SEAM FOR BASE BALLS. APPLIOATION FILED JULY 31. 1901.

N0 MODEL.

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3 UNITED STATES Patented Jilly '7, 1903";

PATENT QFFICE.

BU'RT T. ROGERS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS;

SEAM FOR BASE-'BALLS.

srncrnrca'rron forming part of Letters Patent No. 732,962, dated m 7, 190a.

' Application filed at 31,1901: Serial No. 70,848. (No model.)

cover is first provided with overedge-stitch'es and then united by means of a thread or threads passing through said stitches; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to obviate the liability of tearing or wearing the cover during the process of sewing it together; second, to prevent unduly Wearing the thread used in making the seam; third, to provide a ball with a tighter and more even cover,

fourth, to produce a more symmetrical, duraprovide suitable and adequate means for successfully accomplishing the above-mentioned results and for more easily and quickly makingbase-ball-cover seams than heretofore. I attain these objects by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in. which- Figure 1 is a plan view of one-half of a ball-cover before being wrapped about the ball-stuffing, showing the overedge-stitch; Fig. 2, a reverse side view of the cover-piece and stitch; and Fig. 3, a ball in the process of haying its cover stitched on, showing the seam during the process of formation and also in its completed state.

Similar figures of reference designate like parts throughout the drawings and specification.

Heretofore it has been customary to sew the cover onto a ball or the ball-stuffing with a thread or threads passed back and forth through abutting edges of the cover, drawing the edges together each time a stitch is taken. The drawing together of the edges in this way wears or weakens the material of which the cover is composed (generally some kind of leather) and tears it more or less, since a great strain is thus put upon a small section thereof each time astitch is taken, and if the cover is not torn clear through in places, as frequently happens, it' is left in a weak condition when the ball is finished, besides be ing puckered or uneven. A long single or double thread is used to make the seam, and this thread becomes worn and weakened after being drawn through the cover many times in the manner above described. These objections and difficulties I am. able to entirely overcome by means of my improved seam and also to fit the cover more tightly and closely than the old method permits about the ballstufi'ing. The old ball-cover seams are made entirely by hand; but a part of my seam can be machine-made and the work of stitching the cover together is rendered easier and more rapid by my invention.

Ball-covers are generally made by cutting out two pieces of leather of the shape shown in the drawings, wrapping them about the ball core or stuffing, and stitching their adjacent or contiguous edges together; but this shape is not necessarily essential for the purposes of my invention.

My method and stitch are described as follows: Each of the cover pieces or sections 5 5 is provided with the over-edge stitches 6, which may be suitably arranged singly, in pairs, or otherwise clear around the section. It is not material whether the stitches 6 are made by hand or machine so far as the merits of this invention are concerned, nor how arranged and connected on the back of the section 5 so long as they pass over the edges thereof to form loops or holding means for the thread 7. It will be understood that the stitches 6 are taken in the sections 5 while the latter are fiat and before they are brought into connection with the stuffing 8. After the stitches 6 are in place the sections 5 are wrapped about the core or stuffing 8, and the thread 7, which may be single or double,

plain, or twisted, is fastenedorknotted at one end to said stitches or the cover and then passed through the adjacent ends of the stitches by means of a needle 9.

In finishing my improved seam by engaging the stitches 6 with the" thread 7 I prefer to pass said thread through a stitch 6 on one side, then through the next one on the other side, and so on back and forth in a zigzag direction until some six or eight, for example, of the stitches 6 have been engaged, when the thread is drawn tight and the edges of the cover caused to approach each other until they come into contact. In this mannerI distribute the strain.

The above-described process is repeated until the seams are completed and the ball finished, when the thread 7 is fastened, of course, in any well known manner. The manner of uniting the edges of the sections 5 by means of the thread 7 and stitches 6 is fully illustrated in Fig. 3.

In Figs. 1 and 2 the stitches 6 are shown along a portion only of the edge of the section 5, but it will be understood that in pracnice they extend all around said edge.

The stitches 6 in opposite edges of the sections 5 are shown to occupy alternate positions-that is, each stitch or pair in one section is intermediate of two stitches or pairs draw or close together the stitched parts over a rounded or yielding substance.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, i's- In combination with the cover-sections of a base-ball, overedge-stitches around and drawn tight against the edges of said sections, said stitches being about the entire edges of each section and arranged alternately relative to the stitches on opposite sections, and a substantially continuous thread or threads passing beneath said alternate overedgestitches drawing the abutting edges of adjacent sections together whereby a tight or closed seam is formed substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

BURT T. ROGERS.

Witnesses:

FRANK A. CUTTER, CHARLES H. SMITH. 

